Yemeni security forces deploy in Aden as anger simmers over lengthy power outages

abcnews.go.com:

Yemeni authorities have deployed security forces and armored vehicles across the port city of Aden, in preparation for the latest in a series of protests over hours-long electricity outages caused by a shortage of fuel for power stations

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni authorities deployed security forces and armored vehicles across the port city of Aden Wednesday, as protesters were expected to take to the streets in the latest in a series of protests over hours-long electricity outages caused by a shortage of fuel for power stations.

For several days, hundreds of demonstrators in three central districts of Aden blocked roads and set tires on fire, protesting electricity shortages as temperatures soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Monday and Tuesday, security forces moved in to disperse the demonstrations, beating protesters with batons and barricading the entrances of some streets, three witnesses told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Aden, home to one million people, is governed by the Southern Transitional Council, a group backed by the United Arab Emirates that controls much of the south in the country fractured by nine years of civil war. The STC is allied to the internationally recognized government fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north and center of Yemen.

In recent weeks, electricity outages reached up to 10 hours a day in Aden or up to 20 hours in neighboring Abyan province, according to residents. However, outages lasted only eight hours on Wednesday. The cause of the outages is a shortage of diesel fuel for power stations, the spokesman for Aden’s electricity corporation, Nawar Akbar, said in a Facebook post Sunday.

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